PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Governor Chafee's ceremonial-signing of the week-old state law providing an estimated $15 million in new Temporary Disability Insurance benefits to people out of work caring for newborns and sick relatives brought Rhode Island's General Assembly leaders back to the State House on Tuesday.
The news conference hailing the earlier signing of the legislation also gave the House and Senate sponsors a chance to talk about tough times in their own lives.
Rep. Elaine Coderre, D-Pawtucket, talked about her mother's final days. Sen. Gayle Goldin, D-Providence, talked about a random and unexpected event in her life that left her with a broken back 12 years ago, and months in a back brace: a wooden balcony at her sister's house collapsed beneath her.
"My husband Jeff and I had a mortgage, student loans and were saving to start a family. The idea of a medical emergency that would impact our ability to work was not in our plans,'' Goldin told a roomful of advocates for the legislation she co-sponsored.
"My own life experience of needing to be cared for, and my experience as a mother and now a daughter of aging, ill parents, sparked the idea for this bill,'' which took flight "when my fellow members of the Women's Policy Institute made Temporary Caregiver Insurance our focus.''
The new paid leave law takes effect Jan. 1 and brings with it an anticipated increase in the amount workers statewide will have deducted from their paychecks to support the $15-million cost of expanding the program.